The highly anticipated Revenge of the Mummy will be a "category-buster," according to its designers. Melding a dark ride's highly immerssive, rich storytelling environment with a wild launched coaster experience, and tossing in outrageous pyrotechnics, projected CGI animation, advanced animatronics, bewildering illusions, and anything else they can incorporate, the folks at Universal say that this will be the next generation of theme park attractions. And that's saying a lot coming from the people who created The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man.
Things to know
- Where: Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Florida - When: Scheduled to open spring, 2004
- What: A combination dark ride and white-knuckle launched indoor roller coaster
Sure, there have been some attempts to combine dark ride and coaster elements. For example, Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld Florida (and coming to its sister park in San Diego) is a great dark ride, roller coaster, AND flume ride. Disneyland's Indiana Jones and Disney Animal Kingdom's Dinosaur attractions join elaborate dark ride tableaus with highly sophisticated vehicles that can move quite fast and offer thrilling rides. And Disney's Space Mountain has been launching riders into the cosmos for years. But none of these attractions offer the Mummy's promise of a mind-blowing dark ride with a stomach-churning coaster.
The attraction's magnetic conveyance system, which will use linear induction motors, or LIMs, will allow the coaster to blast 1.5Gs uphill for a wild effects-filled ride in the dark. A modified, slower version of the LIMs (called SLIMs) will transport the vehicles through the dark ride part of the attraction. The technology allows the train to vary its speed through scenes, seamlessly transition from the dark ride to the coaster, and even travel backwards at one point. (Disney will be using a similar technology to reverse the direction of its vehicles in its Expedition Everest coaster/dark ride hybrid to open in late 2005 at Disney's Animal Kingdom.)
Wimp factor
Like most Universal attractions, Mummy will be an in-your-face, visceral, loud, neural-overload experience. When describing the first time the Mummy animatronic character appears, Jennifer Sauer, the Florida ride's creative director, says he's a "super high-end, kick-ass character." It's that kind of take-no-prisoners attitude that leads Universal's designers to conjure a scene in which flames will engulf the train of passengers and the room will heat up to 2000 degrees. "We use every trick in the book," promises Sauer. "(The Mummy) is an assault on your senses from beginning to end."Part of the challenge in designing an attraction like this is that some, um, less adventurous guests (oh what the heck, let's just call them wimps!) who would otherwise love to give the Mummy a whirl, will avoid it because of the extreme coaster elements. For the rest of us adrenaline nuts, however, the ride looks to be theme park nirvana.
Next page: Take a Sneak Peek Under the Mummy's Wraps
A scene-by-scene preview of the attraction.
Revenge of the Mummy Photo Gallery
